Japanese recruitment company Persol Holdings has agreed to acquire Programmed Maintenance Services in a scheme of arrangement that values the Australian peer at AUD 777.73 million (USD 601.66 million).

The suitor will pay AUD 3.02 apiece for the target’s shares, a premium of 67.8 per cent over its last close of AUD 1.80 on 13th July.

Subject to approval from shareholders, the Federal Court of Australia and the Foreign Investment Review Board, the transaction is expected to close by 17th October 2017.

Programmed’s board has unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the offer.

Tokyo-based Persol is billed as one of the largest staffing companies in Japan, providing recruitment, information technology outsourcing and design development services.

The group also manages a venture capital fund named Persol Innovation Fund, which teamed up with Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and others to invest JPY 570.00 million (USD 5.03 million) in career formation platform operator VISITS Technologies last week.

Following the acquisition, Persol expects its overseas sales to increase to over JPY 300.00 billion to become one of the leading players in the human resources service sector in the Asia Pacific region.

Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, Programmed is billed as the country’s largest temporary staffing agency, accounting for 70.0 per cent of the domestic market share.

The company took over competitor Integrated Group for AUD 208.41 million in 2007 before acquiring Skilled Group in a AUD 422.26 million transaction in 2015.

For the six months ended 30th September 2016, Programmed reported revenue of AUD 1.34 billion, an increase of 88.5 per cent over the AUD 709.70 million in the corresponding timeframe last year.

Upon completion of the acquisition, the group will continue to operate in Australia and New Zealand, with its headquarters to remain in Perth.